Analyses
by Dakatmew
Summary: A collection of analyses and answers to questions from Young Justice, both seasons. Please review with your own questions and I'll see if I can answer them.
1. Victory (1)

If Bart Allen had never travelled back in time to 2016 from 2056, it's safe to say that, yes, the future depicted would have been what happened.

However, my job right now is to determine exactly what events led to the Reach victory in 2056 as shown in Impulse's storyline.

First off- in S2E06, he travels back in time to stop Neutron and prevent his powers from coming back, main goal. But he also saved Flash's life.

Assuming that Impulse didn't manage to do that, Endgame would probably have caused the death of Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Bart Allen all in one. If they could have saved the Earth, though, is up for debate. Impulse could have survived, but as the only speedster left as Wally's and Jay's slower speeds would doubtless have left them open to the same energy run off that decimated Wally in the original ending. However, since there was no other 'standard' speedster that could keep up with Bart's speed, it would likely make him work twice as fast. As Garrick's speed supposedly diminished with age, it's safe to say that he would be the first to die, followed quickly by Wally and then by Impulse, if the energy could find no other way out.

Continuing, in S2E09, Impulse is the reason that the cave security system was hacked by Aqualad, Tigress, Icicle Jr, and the Terror Twins. By bringing in an alien tracking device, he compromises it. The end goal of the ploy was to capture Blue, which doubtless would have been accomplished if he had been at his home, where he was before Impulse showed up. Although, they would not have taken Beast Boy and Impulse had the speedster not taken the alien device into the Cave.

But, when Impulse rescued Blue Beetle, it probably would have been accomplished due to the infiltration of Batgirl, Robin, and Bumblebee, not to mention the arrival of reinforcements, Miss Martian's telepathic abilities probably being capable of locating Blue Beetle even in a semi or fully unconscious state, especially since he was in being electrocuted by the Reach Head Scientist.

Of course, these experiments may have resulted in him being 'moded' before Green Beetle can do that. Due to the Head Reach Scientist's motivation to find the cause of the crash rather than just outright solving it, it is also possible that she would have discovered the weakness of the Scarabs to Earth magic, solving the problem and ensuring that the cleansing ritual we see in episode 18 has no effect.

Assuming that Blue was not, in fact, turned, and escaped to join the others, the confrontation against Black during which they encounter Green would have probably gone as well, for the need to convert Blue to mode would have been just as real.

Miss Martian's analysis of Green's actual integrity would have undoubtedly remained the same as in the actual show, as she would, in all likelihood, have still attacked Kaldur and be thoroughly shaken about the information she now knew.

The inability of Miss Martian to read deeply into his mind would have led to Blue being turned and, instead of Impulse discovering this, Blue would most likely tell Nightwing and several senior members, probably Superboy and Mal, with Green Beetle at his side to assure them of this.

With Impulse gone in episode 15, the mission to get the Crystal Key would likely still have succeeded, perhaps replacing Impulse with Wolf or Arsenal. But more at the end of the episode, Blue would have knocked out someone else out first, probably Beast Boy or Arsenal, if he was part of the team Blue was on. This would eliminate a cause in the Reach's downfall on Earth. The betrayal would most likely have gone down in the same type of way, but if Arsenal was down from the start, then the Reach wouldn't waste resources trying to find the teen, limiting the Light's ability to use that against them unknowingly with the teens the Reach experimented on.

Additionally, if Nightwing and/or Aquaman had gone with any of the teams, it would have been significantly harder for Blue to betray them, short of opening the airlock as Arsenal did.

Robin or Batgirl could also have been with the team at the time, as only one pilot is needed for the Bioship, so it raises the question of what they were doing both up there, when they could have been helping shut it down, or taking the place of someone who could survive in space with little relative equipment such as Blue, who would likely have still ended up congregating with the team at the end of the successful mission.

Alternatively on that, Wonder Girl and Sphere could have been outside assisting, helping to limit the number of missiles heading towards Earth. Additionally, Sphere could have been 'piloted' by Arsenal, whose laser was potent enough to damage Black Beetle's armor, so it would be safe to say that it would do a fair amount of damage against the War World, as could Sphere and Wonder Girl, though the two humans would have to wear equipment, which could possibly prohibit movement and agility, leading to more casualties and/or easier targets.

Additionally, where was Zatanna? Augmenting Dr. Fate's shield could have lowered the escaped missiles rate. As his blockage was at 64%, the missiles combated by ground forces at 13%, and considering that Fate was a Lord of Order and probably had a massive magical reserve, Zatanna's power could have blocked at least 5-10 percent.

Ideally, the attack on the War World would have been coordinated with an attack on the Watchtower, as it housed both Aquaman and Nightwing. The opportunity would have made for a reliable way to get both out of the way, although the problem of managing the 23% of missiles that would hit the Earth would still remain.

However, had Blue or Black attacked with the League, perhaps the 23% would have been neutralized- although the team attacking with Black may have raised some questions, but he was doing nothing at the time of the episode, and has no excuse for not helping, although the Ambassador did turn to him for advice on how to proceed.

The League would question it, but accept the help, if somewhat reluctantly, due to the fact that they're enemies, but 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' mentality applies here.

The side of the Earth presented in the attack is the Western hemisphere, but assuming that the majority of the missiles did not actually hit any land, and with how hard it would be to actually hit either America at that distance, which seems to be, from later episodes, farther away than the Moon. At 289,900 miles away, there's quite a room for error.

The top missile in the world, an ICBM, (using the US LGM-30 Minuteman for instance here) the top speed is 15,000 mph, Mach 23. As the War World is literally a doomsday machine built for war, as well as old enough to have the race that built it be extinct, it can be hypothesized that the missiles would go at least 2x as fast as that, while still packing a punch big enough to destroy an area of 2x the size of the ICBMs we have, making it equivalent, roughly, to 950 kilotons of TNT. However, the highest yield is even larger than that, in 37.4 megatons, equating to 37400 kilotons. To put this in perspective, Hiroshima was 15 kilotons, and Nagasaki was 20 kilotons.

The Watchtower's size as well could have made it an ideal way to hide Earth from the missiles, blocking perhaps 5% as an orbiting satellite.

Suffice to say, the targeting mechanisms would not fully function, especially if the majority of missiles destroyed in the attack were focused primarily on the landmass, and probably those that escaped the defense would have landed in the water.

Maybe they'd have detonated, maybe not.

But, the city states of Atlantis, even assuming that they are in line with the UTC-2 time zone, would probably be affected if the War World's missiles were able to detonate. Even missing any notable target, the Americas, any islands, or even Atlantis, the detonation of one of the warheads would be able to cause tidal waves, tsunamis, earthquakes, quite possibly destroying a large number of cities and life, human or otherwise.


	2. Oxygen

With all the fights that we see in Season 2, there is a substantial amount of Reach fighting. Blue Beetle clashing with Impulse, Batgirl, Black Beetle, et cetera. But- according to a quote from Black Beetle in episode 12 of the second season, he "barely touches the stuff" in regards to oxygen.

So, the question is, what do the Reach breath? Is it the Scarab that regulates the body to consume less oxygen, or an entirely different chemical? Is it just the Reach's physiology?

Throughout the season, we see that Blue Beetle does not have to use a rebreather to breath underwater, in the very first episode. It's a longer swim than just a dip, as Robin had one equipped, but Blue did not. This could point to the fact that the Scarab synthesizes oxygen from any source available- air or water. But- what of the Martian Scarab?

The abilities of Martians are remarkable- including density shifting, shapeshifting, telepathy, telekinesis, a length of invulnerability, flight, camouflage/invisibility, and more, depending on the Martian itself. Green Beetle displays all of these, pointing to the fact that he is a normal Martian, if perhaps for the Scarab attached to his spine. Martians themselves are able to adapt to new environments to breath and function in any environment, seen as Miss Martian is able to shapeshift gills to breath underwater.

The atmosphere of Mars is 95% CO2, 3% Nitrogen, 1.6% Argon, and other trace gases. Meaning that the Martian species is most likely able to breath CO2 most easily, as the other contents of their thin atmosphere are most likely too hard to come by to synthesize effectively.

However, their radiation levels are much higher as their atmosphere does not properly protect it, possibly allowing for their species to evolve as shapeshifters. But that is for another day- I've already gone too far into this.

Back on track- A Martian ability, as we know, is shapeshifting, allowing them to change the composition of their bodies to suit the environment. However, by the establishment of Miss Martian shapeshifting gills onto her body when going underwater, it stands to reason that they do need some kind of chemical like O2 to breath, and therefore cannot go into space without an oxygen mask.

But, Green Beetle is able to fly in space and attack during episode 15. This points to the fact that Scarabs are capable of not only synthesizing O2 from any component, be it air or water, but also storing it so that the host can go into oxygen-depleted environments and still be able to fully function.

That being said, it can be hypothesized that the Scarabs store oxygen, and, in doing so, are able to supply it to the host body as needed for long trips without it. Therefore, the Reach species needs very little of it as the have evolved side by side with the technology that helps them respirate, negating the need for a lot of oxygen and naturally selecting those that require less O2 to function at full capacity than others.


End file.
